1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hunting decoys, and more specifically, to movable turkey decoys.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Decoys of great variety in construction and purpose have been used to lure turkeys into range for effective hunting, harvest, and/or observation and study. While decoys often provide a life-like appearance, it has also been desirable for obvious reasons to make the decoy move in a life-like fashion in a manner that is exhibited by the represented animal. Faced with this challenge, practitioners in the art have endeavored on many occasions to so motivate a decoy. Previous attempts to create a realistic and effective decoy include:
Samnara, U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,322, discloses the use of a wind activated animal decoy. Specifically, the use of a turkey decoy with tail-feathers, which upon wind activation, causes the head to move up and down and side-to-side.
Brint, U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,356, discloses the use of a full body turkey decoy, having a tail, which uses a battery-powered electric motor and internal counter weights to simulate strutting turkey behavior. Furthermore, the invention shows a turkey decoy that, upon activation, causes the decoy to rotate intermittently on a support rod and also causes tail vibration.
Lenz, U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,427, discloses a battery-operated animal decoy mechanism having a motor. The motor has at least one projecting member which activates a tail flicking attachment, thus simulating the tail flicking of a live animal.
It is well-known among turkey hunters that during the turkey mating season, male (gobbler) turkeys attempt to find female (hen) turkeys with which to breed. This results in gobblers initiating a mating ritual involving the display of their tail-feathers, while moving them from side-to-side in what is known as a full strut. The gobbler""s full strut is-meant to attract the hen to the gobbler for potential mating.
Prior art turkey decoys suffer from various drawbacks, in that imperfect conditions and inherent limitations in the design and surrounding environment generally cause these decoys to exhibit atypical or unrealistic movement which may startle or warn the turkey or may have no effect whatsoever. Prior art decoys designed to move with nature""s forces (as disclosed in the ""322 patent, for example) lack controllable manual-motion, but more specifically, controllable, isolated tail movement, the essential element in attracting other turkeys. Similarly, the motion exhibited by electronically operated decoys (as disclosed. in the ""356 patent, for example) is generally not representative of gobbler mating rituals. Also, motor-driven decoys have an amount of noise inherent in their operation, that results in turkeys being scared away from the decoy and the immediate area. Additionally, unfavorable weather (e.g., rain, dampness, coldness, etc.) may adversely affect electronic components through corrosion and condensation. Furthermore, electronic mechanisms tend to wear down the power source (usually batteries) required for the decoy""s movement, relatively quickly. This may result in the decoy failing to operate at critical times during the hunting period. Finally, some states and hunting associations, do not permit the use of electronically controlled decoys.
Due to these drawbacks and limitations, including the lack of fall strut simulation, the aforementioned prior art is generally non-conducive to turkey hunting.
Accordingly, what is needed, and has not heretofore been developed, is a manually activated, realistic turkey decoy apparatus that simulates the key aspect inherent to a gobbler""s mating ritual. Field work using the present invention has confirmed that tail-feather movement is critical to the believability of the decoy""s authenticity in the minds of hen turkeys that may observe it. Furthermore, within a dominant gobbler""s territory, if another gobbler attempts to lure the dominant gobbler""s hens by means of a full strut, the dominant gobbler becomes upset and approaches the challenging gobbler to re-establish dominance among the hens. Therefore, a full strut may be used to not only attract hens, but also gobblers. Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a decoy apparatus, that through controllable manual motion, produces a natural, isolated tail-feather movement, thereby simulating a gobbler""s full strut.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a decoy apparatus which is portable, requires only a minimal number of elements, and requires only a minimal number of steps to utilize. This results in efficiency in set-up and preparation of the decoy, a critical aspect to turkey hunting. Furthermore, the use of guide stakes allow the decoy apparatus to be used over and around varied terrain and obstacles, while also preventing turkeys from tripping over the pull line utilized in the present invention.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide such a decoy apparatus which utilizes real turkey feathers, as adding detail to the decoy, in order to draw turkeys to an even closer proximity, as compared to the use of artificial feathers.
It is a further object of the present invention to allow the user to maintain a suitable distance from the decoy apparatus, while still achieving fill operability over the invention.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a decoy apparatus which may be adapted to move not only the tail, but an entire decoy body.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a scaled-down version of the decoy apparatus, that through its construction design and lighter components, weighs less than the preferred embodiment.
The present invention provides, in the preferred embodiment, a rod with an affixed pulling arm and attached tail-feathers. A pull line is attached to the pulling arm. The rod is co-axially and rotatably attached to a ground stake. After insertion of the decoy apparatus"" ground stake into the ground, a stationary turkey decoy is also inserted into the ground, forward and adjacent to the decoy apparatus. After inserting optional guide stakes into the ground, the user may then pull on the pull line attached to the pulling arm. The pulling arm acts upon a spring mechanism incorporating the rod and ground stake, thereby causing controllable movement of the tail-feathers. The result is life-like simulated full strut gobbler tail movement.
An alternative embodiment of the present invention comprises a modification to the construction design, including the use of lighter components utilizing arrow shafts, thereby resulting in a lighter and easier to carry decoy apparatus. This alternative embodiment has the same function and operating principles as found in the preferred embodiment.
The present invention may also be adapted to move an entire decoy. This is accomplished by removing the tail-feathers, and instead attaching any other decoy to the rod. The remaining assembly, preparation, and movement of this alternative embodiment is similar to that of the preferred embodiment.
The foregoing and other features of the method and apparatus of the present invention will be further apparent from the description which follows.